Chapter 495: The Trump Card From Germany
The "really useful" assistance Nagano requested was not weapons and equipment such as aircraft, tanks, and warships, but pilots, Germany's ace pilots!
Although Japan's industrial strength is very weak compared to first-class powers such as the United States, Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom. However, because Japan has always practiced "military-first politics", they did not lack aircraft and aircraft carriers at the beginning of the war.
According to the plan, by the end of 1941, the Japanese Navy will have more than 10 aircraft carriers, including 6 large fleet aircraft carriers (Amagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku, Zuikaku) and 3 light aircraft carriers. ships (Ryujo, Hosho, Zuiho) and 1 escort aircraft carrier (Daya). In terms of the absolute number of aircraft carriers, Japan is actually now number one in the world!
However, the time that Japan can remain number one in the world is very limited. The United States and Germany now both have very large aircraft carrier construction plans.
Regardless of the fact that the United States is like dumplings in building aircraft carriers, even Germany, which has not yet completed the integration of European industrial strength, currently has 5 fast cruise ships undergoing modification (aircraft carriers), 6 Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers under construction, and 17 standard ships. The 12,000-ton displacement C aircraft carrier (a cheap escort carrier with a speed of 18 knots) is under construction.
In addition, there are two "Seidlitz" class aircraft carriers and one training aircraft carrier with a standard displacement of 7,500 tons that have been built.
Therefore, making full use of the numerical advantage of aircraft carriers in the early stages of the war has become the key to whether Japan can achieve a decisive victory.
But the aircraft carrier itself has little combat effectiveness. The combat effectiveness of the aircraft carrier lies in the carrier-based aircraft. Although Japan does not lack carrier-based aircraft, it does not have enough carrier-based aircraft pilots.
At present, the total number of commonly used aircraft owned by the Japanese Army and Navy is only more than 3,000. Moreover, the scale of Japan's pilot training is limited by oil and has never been large. It is difficult to provide a large number of carrier-based aircraft pilots in the short term.
Therefore, although Japan could have 10 aircraft carriers by the end of 1941, there was no way to equip these aircraft carriers with enough carrier-based aircraft pilots so that they could exert their maximum combat effectiveness.
Taking the "Chicheng" aircraft carrier with a full load displacement of 41,300 tons as an example, the "Chicheng" aircraft carrier can carry up to 91 carrier-based aircraft after adopting the method of carrying some aircraft tethered to the deck. However, the current number of commonly used aircraft in the "Chicheng" carrier-based fleet is only 18 Zero fighters, 18 Type 99 dive bombers and 27 Type 97 torpedo attack aircraft, a total of only 63 aircraft. Although there are still some reserve aircraft, the number of 63 commonly used aircraft is too small, and there cannot be as many reserve aircraft as 28.
Therefore, the "Chicheng" aircraft carrier is now unable to exert its maximum combat effectiveness, and the rest of the Japanese aircraft carriers are carrying aircraft in the same situation. The number of commonly used aircraft on several "old aircraft carriers" is only 70%-80% of the maximum number. The situation of newly built aircraft carriers is naturally even worse.
Among the 10 aircraft carriers that Japan already has or will have in the future, the "Akasei" can carry up to 91 carrier-based aircraft, the "Kaga" can carry up to 90 aircraft, and both the "Soryu" and "Hiryu" can carry 72 aircraft. , "Xianghe" and "Zuihe" can carry 84 carrier-based aircraft, "Ryuxiang" and "Zuiho" can carry 30 carrier-based aircraft, "Phoenixiang" can carry 21 carrier-based aircraft, "Daying" " can carry 27 carrier-based aircraft. The 10 aircraft carriers can carry a total of 601 carrier-based aircraft. If 61 of them are reserve aircraft, the remaining common aircraft that can be used for combat can also reach 560.
However, the number of outstanding carrier-based aircraft pilots (captains) that the Japanese naval aviation can produce now is only more than 400 at most, and the difference is almost 100 people. There are now only more than two months left before the planned surprise attack. It will definitely be too late for Japan to train itself, so it can only let Germany support carrier-based aircraft pilots.
"You want 100 carrier-based aircraft captains?" Hersman looked at Ozawa Jisaburo who was visiting again and asked in English, "Does it mean that if we provide 100 carrier-based aircraft captains, you will occupy Hawaii?"
"Your Excellency, Marshal, if our Imperial Navy receives sufficient support, we will consider occupying Hawaii." Ozawa Jizaburo did not say anything, "but whether this goal can be achieved depends on the situation."
Jisaburo Ozawa really wanted to get 100 German ace pilots, but he had reservations about occupying Hawaii.
In fact, there was already a lot of opposition within the Japanese Navy to the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and many people thought it was too risky. If the "occupation of Hawaii" operation is to be carried out, which is several times more risky, the opposition will probably be even greater.
Even if Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku is finally able to implement the plan against all odds, he will definitely formulate a more conservative plan and will not invest all the capital of the Combined Fleet into it. Instead, the main force and landing force will be followed several hundred nautical miles behind the First Air Force, and whether to take further action will be decided depending on the situation of the air attack.
In addition, the Army's attitude towards the Hawaii landing operation is still unclear. It seems a bit uneconomical to invest 4-5 elite divisions at a time and give up the two relatively low-risk operations of fighting in the Philippines and occupying the Dutch East Indies. Therefore, Ozawa Jisaburo cannot give any guarantee now.
Hersmann and Admiral Raeder, the commander-in-chief of the German Navy who attended the meeting today, exchanged glances. Admiral Raeder certainly did not agree to hand over 100 German naval carrier-based pilots to Japan for use, but Hesmann had already agreed to select a group of aces from shore-based pilots to receive carrier take-off and landing training to replace these elites drawn from the aircraft carriers. So he couldn't object.
"At most 60 carrier-based pilots," Raeder said, "and they are all Fokker Zero pilots, because we don't have many experienced carrier-based dive bomber pilots."
The main task of Germany's two official aircraft carriers, the "Seydlitz" and the "Seckt", is to escort the main fleet, so there are more carrier-based fighters on them, and fewer carrier-based dive bombers, and sometimes all fighter configurations are adopted. Therefore, among the current German Navy carrier-based pilots, fighter pilots account for the majority.
Moreover, Germany has many fighter ace pilots, who are easy to be transferred to aircraft carriers. Now there are more than 300 fighter pilots who have won the "Blue Max" in the German Air Force and Naval Aviation alone - this means more than 7,500 aircraft have been shot down. However, at this time and space, the German Air Force has sufficient fuel supply, so it no longer uses the aces to death. Generally, those who have won the "Blue Max" will be transferred to instructors or promoted to higher positions to leave the most intense battlefield. Therefore, there are many "Blue Max" pilots in the German Air Force and Naval Aviation, but the "super aces" with more than 50 shots are very limited.
"60 is too few, at least 80 are needed." Ozawa Jisaburo thought for a while, and then said, "But we can guarantee that these German pilots will only undertake direct cover and instructor tasks, and in principle will not undertake the mission of escorting the attack aircraft group."
"Direct cover" means covering the fleet, which is a relatively safe combat mission, and there is a high probability of survival even if it is shot down. As an instructor, you don't have to go into battle. There are basically no instructors with rich practical experience in the pilot schools of the Japanese Navy and Army Aviation. If you can get the German ace pilots as instructors, you can improve the training level.
"Moreover, I want to select the pilots myself." Ozawa Jisaburo put forward a condition at this time, "I hope to see them take off and land from the aircraft carrier and various air combat actions, and then talk to them one by one."
Ozawa didn't seem to trust the Germans. Hersman frowned slightly, but he nodded and said, "I can agree to your request, but if you don't launch the campaign to occupy Hawaii in the end, we will recall these pilots."
He paused and said, "Vice Admiral Ozawa, you will be given 7 days to go to Kiel Port to select people, and the Imperial Navy will give full cooperation. Then we will arrange for these personnel to go to Japan through the Soviet Union as soon as possible. As for other aid materials, it is difficult to deliver them to Japan safely now. We can only wait until the Indian Ocean route is opened."
Although Germany has occupied Gibraltar now, Britain has also occupied the Canary Islands and Madeira Islands, and has laid a large number of mines at the exit of the Strait of Gibraltar. Therefore, the Atlantic route has not been opened yet. As for the Suez Canal, the canal is unobstructed, but the Gulf of Aden is still blocked by Britain. The Italian and French fleets without aircraft carriers cannot break out either.
As for the transportation of goods to Japan through the Soviet Union, it has been completely interrupted since August 1941. However, personnel can still pass through, otherwise Ozawa Jisaburo and Terauchi Juichi cannot come now.
"In addition, we can also provide you with a staff group composed of German engineers and artillery experts. They have all participated in the battle to capture fortresses in Europe. They know how to capture a well-defended fortress like Oahu." Hersman then made another suggestion.
He said: "And we have a lot of information about the deployment of the Oahu Fortress to provide you... In fact, the Oahu Fortress is not as strong as imagined. Its most terrifying coastal defense batteries are the two 14-inch cannons of the Randolph Battery, the two 16-inch cannons of the Williston Battery, and the two 16-inch cannons of the Hatch Battery. But these cannons theoretically cannot hit your Yamato, and the 460mm cannons of the Yamato will definitely destroy the defenses of these batteries. Moreover, all the large-caliber coastal guns on Oahu are deployed in the direction of Pearl Harbor, and there are no large-caliber coastal guns on the north side of the island.
So as long as you are determined enough, Oahu will belong to Japan!"